Staying Calm and Compassionate While Unjustly Detained for My Faith

January 05, 2019 | By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) I was arrested by police last summer when I was distributing information about Falun Dafa in a rural village. It was the first time I was facing an illegal detention. I was nervous when I was sitting in the police car and sent forth righteous thoughts to calm myself down. Then I started to clarify the truth about the persecution to the officer in the car. I thought that, since I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, I should not be afraid and talked openly even though he was recording me.

The police took me to an interrogation room. I refused to sit on the iron chair because it was for criminals. So the officer brought in a regular chair for me. I sat down and explained to them that there was no law saying that Falun Dafa is a cult. The persecution was set into motion by a slanderous statement made by former Communist leader Jiang Zemin during an interview with a reporter from Le Figaro, a French newspaper, in October 1999. I said that Jiang’s words were not law, and the 14 cults listed by the Ministry of Public Security don’t include Falun Dafa. I asked the officer to look it up and he replied that he would.

The officer then asked me who was with me when I distributed the Falun Dafa information. I refused to tell him.

I remember Master (Li Hongzhi) said in his teaching:

“I am a person who will not say what he does not want to say, but what I say must be true.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)

I chose not to answer the question, and I sent righteous thoughts quietly to eliminate all the evil elements behind him. He got angry and yelled at me, but I looked at him peacefully. I knew that was not his true self. Later on, he said, “You are calm because of your faith, and I am irritable because of my job.”

He calmed down, and I said, “If I tell you the names of other practitioners, it’s not good for you. You will arrest more practitioners and create more karma for yourself. Good deeds come back as blessings, and bad deeds come back to haunt you. I am doing what's best for you.”

After a night of questioning, he couldn’t get any information from me. Therefore, he deleted everything from the recording.

When I was under arrest, I worried that the arrest would impact my job. Then I remembered Master Li's words,

“My truly cultivating disciples, what I have taught you is the Fa for cultivation of Buddha and Dao. Nonetheless, you pour out your grievances to me over the loss of your worldly interests, rather than feeling upset for being unable to let go of ordinary human attachments. Is this cultivation? Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person.” (“True Cultivation”, Essentials for Further Advancement)

Wasn’t my worry about my job an attachment of worldly interests? I should let go of the attachment and follow Master’s arrangement. I started doing the Falun Dafa exercises around 4 a.m. the next morning. I noticed that an officer was watching me through the window, but I wasn’t afraid at all.

Later on, the police officer who questioned me came in. He told me that multiple villagers and the village secretary had come to testify that I distributed Falun Dafa information, and that they found a lot of materials in my car. He said that I would be sentenced to prison for at least one year. I thought in my heart that his words did not count; only Master’s arrangements count.

In the afternoon, the police told me that I would be detained for 15 days, and that I needed to sign a transcript and confession. I refused to sign because I didn’t do anything wrong and had nothing to confess.

On the way to the detention center, the officer told me that he was going to raid my house the next day. I said he wouldn’t. He asked the reason and I replied, “You look like a kind person. You would not do such terrible thing.” He smiled.

The next day, the city police came to my house around noon, and said they would raid it in the afternoon. However, the house they ended up going into was the wrong one, and they never came back to my house. It was Master who protected me!

When I got to the detention room, all the detainees wondered why such a well- mannered girl was being detained there. I told them that it was because I practice Falun Dafa. They were surprised that a young person like me practices Falun Dafa. I told them that a lot of younger adults and children also practice, and that people from over 100 countries in the world have become practitioners.

I sent righteous thoughts at the globally-set times while I was in the detention center. Every time I sent righteous thoughts, the detainees in my room would go to the other rooms to give me a quiet space. Some of them even reminded me to meditate. As long as I had a pure heart, nothing would interfere with me.

One night, two women were sent to the detention center due to fighting. One of them was put in the same room with me. The guard told her that I would educate her. I believed that she was a good person that Master arranged for me to help save. I told her the truth about Falun Dafa. She was very receptive and adored me a lot.

During the last few days of detention, a girl was sent to our room due to drug abuse. She looked mean. No one dared to get near her. I noticed that she didn't have any living supplies. So I gave her my things. We soon became close, and I told her about Falun Dafa and sang her songs that Dafa practitioners composed. She said my singing was beautiful. One of my roommates said that she began to look friendly after being around me for a few days.

After being detained for 15 days, I went back to work. My director said I could resume my work right away, and they didn’t report my detention to upper management. Instead, they applied annual leave for the time I was detained. I deeply feel grateful for all the arrangements Master made for me.